• Kazakhtelecom taps Nvidia for AI factory deployment
• Nokia, Colt and Honeywell trial space-based quantum-safe cryptography 
• AccelerComm raises $15m, names new CEO

In today’s industry news roundup: Kazakhstan’s national operator, Kazakhtelecom, launches Central Asia’s first sovereign AI factory, using Nvidia GPUs; Nokia, Colt and Honeywell are joining forces for trials of quantum-key distribution technology via satellites connections to protect data from cyberattacks; AccelerComm gets funding injection to help it advance its satellite communications technology and appoints wireless and satellite heavyweight as new CEO; and much more!

Kazakhtelecom is the latest telco to join the AI factory club and, like nearly all of its peers, is using Nvidia technology at the heart of its deployment. The operator describes the deployment, which is being built using Nvidia’s H200 GPUs (graphics processing units) and the vendor’s AI Enterprise software suite, as Central Asia’s “first commercial sovereign AI factory”. “This initiative marks a significant milestone in building national AI infrastructure and will provide broad access to computing power across key sectors of the economy, supporting Kazakhstan’s national strategy to drive economic transformation through artificial intelligence,” the operator noted in this announcement. It added, “The platform will be delivered as a cloud service, providing accessible and secure AI infrastructure for government institutions, private businesses, startups and universities throughout Kazakhstan. It will enable critical industries to harness advanced AI models and applications – including banking, mining, aviation, oil & gas, and construction.” The facility is expected to go online this summer. Kazakhtelecom is the national operator of Kazakhstan, which has a population of about 21 million, despite being the world’s ninth-largest country by land mass. Kazakhtelecom, which provides a broad range of fixed and mobile services,  ended 2024 with almost 2 million fixed broadband customers. As we’ve noted on numerous occasions, a growing number of telcos have identified sovereign AI services provisioned from AI factories (datacentres populated with infrastructure capable of supporting a range of AI workloads, including large language model training) as a way to generate new revenue streams and develop new enterprise customer relationships. Just last week, Italy’s Fastweb+Vodafone announced it had become the first Italian operator to offer “sovereign AI-based solutions” to businesses and public administrations in the country. To stay up to date with such developments, keep an eye on TelecomTV’s dedicated Telcos & AI channel and for more on the potential of sovereign AI, check out our free-to-download Telcos & AI report.

Colt Technology Services has teamed up with Nokia and Honeywell’s Aerospace Technologies division to “explore quantum-safe networking using satellite communications,” the network operator announced. The trio plans to “test new ways of protecting encrypted optical network traffic from risks presented when quantum computing potentially breaks through traditional encryption methods, leaving data vulnerable to cyber threats.” According to the partners, quantum key distribution (QKD) is a promising technology for quantum-safe networking, but QKD “faces a major limitation: Terrestrial physical constraints restrict its range to around 100 kilometers. To achieve global coverage of QKD, the technology can overcome these limitations by moving into space. Colt, Honeywell and Nokia plan to explore quantum-safe cryptography, trialling space-based and subsea techniques which are resistant to quantum computing attacks.” The partners will trial QKD using low earth-orbit (LEO) satellites “for ultra-long distances and transatlantic reach,” noted Colt, adding that the “three companies share a collective goal: Enable customers to benefit from the huge potential of quantum computing in ways that help solve pressing challenges while protecting them from risk.” The partners expect the trial to be of particular interest to “organisations responsible for vast amounts of highly sensitive data, such as financial firms, healthcare and pharmaceutical organisations and government bodies.” Quantum-safe networking is set to become one of the most important areas of focus for telcos over the next few years – for all the latest developments, check out our dedicated news page. 

Southampton, UK-based wireless network optimisation specialist AccelerComm has raised $15m in a new funding round led by IP Group, including its Parkwalk and Hostplus managed funds, with support from IQ Capital, Swisscom Ventures’ digital transformation fund and Bloc Ventures. The cash will be used “to further develop and accelerate deployments of the company’s 5G satellite communications products and technology that enables direct-to-device (D2D) communications between phone handsets and space-based satellite networks,” the company noted in this announcement. Those developments “will support the company’s ongoing implementations with key mobile operator and satellite network customers and partners,” including Lockheed Martin, which is using AccelerComm’s technology in its Advanced Regenerative 5G NR Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) Base Station. This is “set to be the first regenerative 5G NTN payload on orbit,” according to AccelerComm, which previously raised £21.5m in 2023. Alongside the news of the funding, AccelerComm also announced the appointment of David Helfgott, who has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the wireless and satellite communications markets, as its new CEO. Most recently, Helfgott was CEO at inflight communications specialist SmartSky Networks. “There is growing momentum in the mobile communications industry towards using 5G-enabled satellites to augment existing coverage and capacity delivered by terrestrial networks,” stated Helfgott. “AccelerComm’s unique technology and acumen position us at the centre of this shift, delivering a critical building block required to provide best-in-class 5G services from space... The recent announcement of our 5G NTN solution has led to great interest from mobile operators and satellite networks from around the world.” The company also announced a new chairman in March this year. The funding comes as many mobile operators seek to supplement the reach of their terrestrial networks with satellite-enabled cellular communications, with companies such as Starlink, AST SpaceMobile, Skylo, Project Kuiper brokering partnerships with mobile network operators. Keep up with the latest satellite communications developments on our dedicated news page.   

BT Group has officially unveiled its new unit, BT International, a standalone operation with its “own people, products and platforms” which will service the telco’s multinational customers. The announcement comes a few weeks after BT confirmed reports that such a unit was being created: Check out this previous coverage to get the lowdown and backstory behind the formation of BT International. In a blog posted on the BT website, Bas Burger, who is CEO of the new unit, noted that BT International’s services are underpinned by “two highly scalable telco platforms designed for the age of multi-cloud and AI: Global Voice and Global Fabric, with security built in by design. We’ve channelled our investments into these cloud-centric global platforms and concentrated our expert teams where customers need them most.” What remains to be seen now is whether the operator can attract any partners that are ready to either acquire, merge with or invest in BT International as BT Group focuses its efforts on its UK consumer and enterprise customers as per the strategy unveiled by CEO Allison Kirkby just over a year ago. 

Satellite operator Eutelsat, which includes low earth-orbit (LEO) operation OneWeb as part of its portfolio, is in talks to raise €1.5bn to help fund its LEO satellite launches and operations in a move that would give the French state a bigger stake in the company, according to a report from Bloomberg. 

Samsung is reportedly on the cusp of an agreement to integrate generative AI search technology from Perplexity into its smartphones and to participate in an enormous new round of funding that would value Perplexity at about $14bn. Perplexity is increasingly popular with tech firms and telcos alike – last week Indonesia’s Telkomsel became the latest mobile operator to bundle the Perplexity Pro into some of its service offerings. 

– The staff, TelecomTV